


can't you tell i love a liar?

by anakinno



Series: rebellions are built on hope [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Star Wars Fusion, Alternate Universe - Star Wars Setting, Bisexual Skye | Daisy Johnson, Bisexuality, Bounty Hunters, Conversations, Corellia (Star Wars), F/F, F/M, Fake Character Death, Fluff and Humor, Hopeful Ending, Jedi, Light Angst, Love Triangles, Mission Fic, Past Relationship(s), Pining, Post-Order 66, Pre-Relationship, Star Wars References, Suitless Darth Vader, Wordcount: 10.000-30.000, jedi!daisy, kind of, smuggler!deke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:30:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25070155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anakinno/pseuds/anakinno
Summary: Almost six years after the fall of the Republic and the supposed death of her ex-lover at her own hand, Daisy joins the Rebellion against the Empire and finds her attention held by a certain no-good smuggler within their ranks.
Relationships: Deke Shaw/Skye | Daisy Johnson, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: rebellions are built on hope [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1769560
Comments: 15
Kudos: 21





	can't you tell i love a liar?

**Author's Note:**

> This got mildly away from me so I apologize in advance. All Deke/Daisy content (including bi Daisy!) is inspired by the lovely Sanctuaria, as always <3
> 
> You don't need to read _Penumbra_ before you read this, but it might help clarify some plot and worldbuilding stuff. Also, I may or may not have made Deke a little (read: a lot) more competent in this universe, but hey. Creative license, am I right? Good stuff.
> 
> Y'all thought I was killing Ward off? You thought wrong.
> 
> Title from "Boys Like You" by Dodie.

"I heard you were back on base."

Daisy resists the urge to groan. She glances up from the terminal she's slicing through to see Deke Shaw standing right in front of her. Above all else, he's a professional: a professional smuggler, a professional mercenary, and a professional _pain in her ass._ Especially right now.

"What do you want, Deke?" she says, her words a little more hostile than she'd meant them to be. Deke blinks, but his face slowly grows into a grin that lights up his entire face. He struts over to sit beside her, throwing a lazy arm around her shoulders. Daisy tenses almost instantly, but she doesn't move.

"Aw, I knew you cared, Daisy," he teases in that roguish way of his. This close, she can't help but notice the curve of his jaw, the long white column of his throat, the smirk at the corner of his lips—

Daisy brushes those thoughts away as soon as they come, internally shuddering.

It's not that she's _averse_ to Deke's flirtations, not truly. Besides, the entire Rebellion knows she's still in mourning for her lost love; no one expects her to move on so fast. What they _don't_ know is that Daisy is the one who killed him, back on Mustafar, in order to prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths across the Galaxy.

Or at least, she'd _thought_ she'd killed him. Daisy had left Grant Ward's body back on Mustafar almost six years ago in order to save two of her closest friends. That had been before the appearance of a shadowy operative at the Emperor's right hand: a black-suited man, always cloaked to hide his face, by the name of Darth Vader.

_Sith._ Daisy doubts there's still anyone around after Order 66, bar her, who would recognize the man's title as that of a Sith Lord. She's still unaware of how many Jedi survived. At first, she'd thought them all dead. Only Coulson, Mack, and Yo-Yo had made it out of that Temple alive, and only a Jedi would know what the appearance of Darth Vader truly meant.

Daisy has no doubt that Darth Vader is Ward, in some twisted Sith fashion. She's on the list of top ten wanted criminals in the _Galaxy_. Her bounty has a staggering number of zeroes placed after it. Only Ward would have that kind of sway with Garrett.

Which is why she's here in the first place, actively aiding the Rebel Alliance in their quest to take down the Empire. Daisy has a personal stake in this game, and she's not above playing dirty. Not anymore.

"Daisy?" She's jerked out of her thoughts by Deke's voice. He sounds amused, as if he's been trying to speak to her for the past few minutes. "Yavin Four to Daisy? Sorry to interrupt... _whatever_ it is you're doing."

"It's called slicing, Shaw," she tells him with disdain, already focusing her attention back on the terminal she's working at. Jemma wants her to slice into the ISB's systems and find intel on any other rebel cells, or even other remaining Jedi. Simmons plans to bring the other factions into the fold of the Rebel Alliance if Daisy succeeds. "It's a natural talent of mine. You know. _Talent._ Which is something you seem to lack."

Deke isn't deterred as he sits himself on the terminal beside her, much to Daisy's consternation. He lays a hand over his heart in mock offense as he grins at her. "Oh, sweetheart. I have _plenty_ of talents." The tone of his voice makes it clear _exactly_ what he's referring to, and she reddens without meaning to.

"Scoundrel," she threatens, but there's no heat in it.

Deke winks, much to her disgust. "You know you love me."

"Shaw? You there?" Mack's voice comes down the hallway, and Daisy relishes the way Deke stiffens at the sound. Mack peeks his head around the door, relief passing over his features. "Good. The General wants to see you."

Deke gives the other man a grin as he jumps down from his perch. Lightning-quick, he darts in and presses a kiss to Daisy's cheek. "Later, Johnson," he tells her before he disappears around the corner, leaving Daisy to flush an even brighter red.

Mack sighs, shaking his head. "Get some rest once you've done that," is all he says. "Simmons has another mission for you two. Wheels up in a few hours."

And with that, he follows Deke back to the main hangar. Daisy watches him go with a sinking feeling in her stomach.

She listens to Mack, though, and heads to the barracks once she's finished slicing. The ISB systems are tough to get into, but they're no match for her, and she downloads Jemma's intel onto a holochip that she tucks into her bra. It's not that she doesn't trust the other rebels, but this is sensitive information.

After a short catnap—nothing more than an hour, tops—she stretches, dresses in her coolest clothes, and heads into the base to find Jemma and Mack in base command.

When Daisy steps into the room, her eyes taking a moment to adjust to the dim light, Jemma Simmons is nowhere to be seen. Instead, a few officers stand at holostations along the walls, tracking fleet movements and listening to Imperial transmissions. Mack is standing in the center of the room with Deke—the holotable in front of them is illuminated to show blueprints of some sort, and Mack explains something with his hands.

"I thought you said Simmons wanted to see me," she says as she steps in beside the taller man. Mack gives her a once-over and nods, clearly satisfied.

"She's resting," he says. "I volunteered to take the night shift."

Daisy discreetly checks the chrono, and is surprised to find just how late it is. Working for the Rebellion has done away with her sense of time after all these years.

"She left me to brief you," he says, and the word _brief_ immediately sends Daisy's hackles up. For the first time, she notices the small, pleased grin on Deke's face as he watches her, the creep. It's not hard to put two-and-two together.

"No," Daisy says immediately, making deliberate eye contact with Mack. _"No."_

"Hear me out first." Mack's tone allows for no argument. "We're running short on supplies, including explosives and weapons."

Daisy nods; she'd known that. It isn't a huge secret that the Rebellion is underfunded and undersupplied. 

"Deke has a contact on Corellia who can get us the stuff we need," Mack continues, still watching her closely. "We've been monitoring Imperial transmissions for a while, and they've all been buzzing about a new weapon, stronger than any blaster or ion cannon. If we're to have a chance against it—"

"We'll need these explosives," Daisy finishes for him. She chances another look at Deke, who shrugs innocently, and then says, "Okay. The supply run, I get. But I can’t believe you want me to go on a supply run with _Deke."_ She stares at Mack. Her hands clench into fists at her sides, the gesture automatic. “Do you really trust him that much?”

Mack sighs, long-suffering but still ever-so-patient. This is why she trusts him so much—why she’d jump in front of a blaster bolt to protect him. “I trust him about as far as I can throw him. That’s why I need you there to keep an eye on him.”

Deke makes a pointed sound in his throat. Daisy rolls her eyes as he says, “Uh, guys? I’m standing right here.”

“Exactly. He’ll stick out like a sore thumb on Corellia,” she tells Mack, ignoring Deke’s outburst. “Give me someone else. Yo-Yo, maybe. She’s good at blending in.”

“Yo-Yo’s off-world,” Mack says flatly. “Alderaan. She won’t be back until at least two rotations, and this is a time-sensitive mission. We need these supplies, Daisy. You need to negotiate on our behalf. Plus, it’s Deke’s contact. You and him are our last resort.”

“I like the sound of that.” Deke leans forward over the holotable, grinning like a satisfied lothcat. In the Force, Daisy can sense a feeling of deep contentment emanating from the younger man. It’s... oddly comforting, in a strange way. “When do we leave?”

“Calm down there, flyboy,” Daisy says. She crosses her arms over her chest and looks directly into Deke’s smiling face. Force, it’s like looking directly into a blazing sun. She’ll either end up scorched or blinded. 

“Well, you’ve been briefed already,” Mack says. Deke blinks, startled; he probably didn’t expect a direct answer to his question. “Oh-three-hundred hours sharp. Docking bay four.”

Daisy groans and opens her mouth to complain.

“Another word out of you, Johnson, and I make it oh-one-hundred hours instead.”

She promptly swallows the retort on her tongue and shuts her mouth with a _click._

"Am I understood?" Mack waits, watching the two of them. Deke nods immediately, much to Daisy's annoyance.

"Fine," she bites out, resigning herself to her fate. She digs the holochip out of her bra, much to Deke's wide-eyed surprise, and practically forces it into Mack's hand. "Make sure this gets to Simmons."

And with that, she turns on her heel and stalks off, determined to get as many hours of sleep as possible before she has to spend days in a confined space with Deke Shaw, of all people.

Unfortunately, oh-three-hundred hours rolls around far too quickly for her liking, and Daisy meets Deke in docking bay four with a heavy heart after getting dressed. He's standing by their ship with a duffel bag slung over his back, looking up at the paintwork appreciatively. When he hears Daisy approach, he turns around so fast he almost loses his balance and trips.

"Hey, Daisy!" he says brightly, oblivious to the irritation brewing in Daisy's gut. "Are you ready—"

She shoulders past him angrily and strides up the boarding ramp without listening to him. The ship is a small Lambda-class shuttle, stolen from the Imperial dockyards on Corellia itself a few weeks ago. It cuts an elegant figure in the docking bay, all long wings and straight lines.

Daisy stumbles into the cockpit, which is much smaller than she'd like, and immediately plants herself into the copilot's chair. Her flying is something that could be best classified as _disastrous,_ and she'd much rather leave their fate to Deke.

He pops up behind her, sticking his head around the doorframe and looking a little bit like a kicked puppy. "Daisy, I—"

"Get your ass in here," Daisy says, trying not to sound as annoyed as she feels, "and get going on the start-up sequence."

Deke slides into the cockpit, expression wary, and settles into the pilot's chair. "Fine," he says, obviously unsure of her. She doesn't blame him; she's in an awfully volatile mood today, and Deke's presence is only making matters worse. "Can you put up the ramp?"

Daisy nods, thankful—that's one thing she _can_ do—and leans forward to pull at the release. The ship shudders as the boarding ramp closes, and Deke presses a few buttons and holds the ignition as it roars to life. Daisy can feel the durasteel humming underneath her feet as the shuttle begins to hover off the ground. In the hangar below, fleet control gives them a thumbs up as the blast door opens to reveal the humid jungle of Yavin Four.

The shuttle's wings fold up into the flying position as Deke brings them up and out of the docking bay. As soon as they're clear of the tree-line, the engines roar to life properly and they shoot upwards into the atmosphere. Deke flies with an easy grace, face contorted in concentration as he navigates the wind pockets and brings them up through the moon's gravity field. It's surprisingly sexy, and Daisy has to immediately pull herself away from that train of thought because oh, _no._

"Where did you learn to fly Imperial Shuttles like this?" she asks instead, watching Deke as he flies. The Lambda-class shuttles can be flown by one person, but a copilot makes things much easier, especially through hyperspace. 

He risks a glance in her direction. "Royal Imperial Academy of Coruscant," he says, with absolutely no emotion in his voice.

Daisy blinks, caught off guard. "You were an Imperial recruit?!"

"Why is that such a surprise?" he shoots back. His voice softens as he adds, "It was the only way out of the lower levels. I was on track for the Imperial Navy... until I flunked out."

Daisy has to hide her surprise. "You flunked out of the Academy?" she asks, amusement seeping into her voice despite her best efforts.

Deke scowls. They're up out of the atmosphere now, and he points to the displays in front of Daisy and says, "Calibrate the navicomputer for our jump." Sighing, she does so, quickly and efficiently entering the coordinates for Corellia's Coronet City. When she's finished, Deke grabs the lever in front of him and _pulls_. The stars around them lengthen into glowing streaks as they jump forward, moving impossibly fast, into the embrace of hyperspace.

He sits back as the roar of the engines quiets into a dull hum and the ship continues on its way. The silence between them is so tangible Daisy could slice through it with her saber.

"The Hydian Way should take us all the way coreward," Deke says after a moment, looking everywhere but at her face. "Then we can take the Corellian Run and reach the city. It's probably going to take us at least two days."

Daisy doesn't groan aloud at the prospect of two days spent in Deke's presence, but it's a near thing.

"So," she says finally. "You flunked out of the Academy."

Deke _does_ groan at that. "You're never going to let that go, are you?" He turns to face her, crossing his legs as much as he can in the small seat.

"Nope," Daisy says, rather smugly. "I didn't know you _could_ flunk out of the Academy. What did they expel you for? Illegal street-racing?"

Deke laughs, but it sounds rather strained. "I wish. I, uh—I kind of helped a high-security prisoner to escape?"

Daisy stares at him. "You idiot," she says, but the words are fond. "Stars above. Who did you help escape?"

He pauses for a moment. "Leopold Fitz," he admits finally, and Daisy feels her jaw drop when she puts two-and-two together. She remembers, three years ago, when the Empire arrested Jemma's husband in order to force the former Senator of Naboo out of hiding. It did no such thing—rather, Fitz miraculously escaped from Imperial custody after a week and managed to rejoin them on Dantooine. Apparently, his escape had not been so miraculous after all. _Thank the Force for Deke Shaw._

She looks at him, really looks at him, with new respect in her eyes. "Thank you," she says earnestly. Daisy finds that she means it. "For helping him. I—I almost lost him once. I don't think I could have gone through it again."

Deke seems startled. He leans forward, resting his elbow on the arm of the pilot's seat, and Daisy suddenly realizes how close they are. If she were to angle her head downwards and close the distance...

"So," she says suddenly, throwing herself back in the seat. Her voice sounds off to her, weirdly high-pitched and nervous. "Corellia. Not your average Core world."

“Hey! I’ve been to Corellia before,” Deke complains bitterly. He eyes her warily, but evidently elects to let the weirdness pass. "I don't need a crash course."

“Deke, skyside is definitely not the same as—“

“I grew up on the _lower levels_ of Coruscant,” he defends, without letting her finish. Evidently he’d deduced her sentiment quickly. “It’s practically the same. A gutter rat is a gutter rat, no matter where you go.”

Daisy resists the urge to roll her eyes and instead watches him cautiously. The blur of stars in hyperspace casts an odd blue glow over Deke’s face, making him look even more tired and hungry than he did on Yavin. The dark circles under his eyes are far more pronounced. Stars, when’s the last time he slept? He looks fragile, like he’s about to break.

"Go sleep," she says, reaching out and grasping his arm lightly. She squeezes and lets go quickly. "You look exhausted. I can take over for the next few hours."

Deke starts at the touch, still watching her warily. "No, I can't," he says, obviously taken off guard by the non sequitur. "What if something happens? Hyperspace—"

"I can take over," she repeats. "I'll wake you if anything comes up." When he continues to sit there, eyes narrowed, she says, "You're worn out. You won't be any help on Corellia if you refuse to sleep for the next two days. I'll only give it a few hours."

He holds her gaze for a moment before he nods, unstrapping himself and standing up. Deke stumbles on the uneven floor as he makes his way to the back of the ship, where there are several bunks laid against the wall. She watches him go with an uncertain feeling in her heart before taking his seat and surveying the controls in front of her.

Alone for the first time since her ill-fated solo mission to Stygeon Prime a month or so ago, Daisy lets herself relax into the chair.

She's slipping. It's been so long since Ward's presumed death, even since Lincoln's death, that she's found herself getting closer and closer to Deke in the meantime. Sighing, Daisy closes her eyes and lets herself face the truth: she's maybe a little bit in love with Deke Shaw.

Which means that he can never, ever get close enough to find out. Or else he will die like the others.

* * *

The two days in hyperspace pass quickly. Despite Deke's worries, there are no more complications, and they soon set up a system of shifts—one person sleeps for four hours while the other keeps watch. In the time between, when both of them are awake, Daisy finds that she enjoys Deke's company more than she'd expected. The younger man is _funny,_ with an innocently charming sense of humor that she knows better than to trust. Daisy listens to his stories with a faint sense of amusement, grinning when he motions with his hands.

"Did you ever meet Darth Vader at the Imperial Academy?" she asks him one time, about halfway into their hyperspace journey. Deke has just changed hyperlanes with an expert hand, bringing them out of hyperspace in time to change directions. Once again, the stars streak by as the ship lurches forward, following the easy curves of the Corellian Run as Deke sits back with a sigh.

Daisy studies his face closely as he frowns at the strange subject. Deke's changed his clothes again, Daisy notices—today he's sporting a worn brown leather jacket and a clean white tunic, with loose cargo pants and the same boots as always. He's still wearing that infernal scarf-thing around his neck, but he looks _nice,_ almost. The scruff around his neck and mouth has finally grown out into a proper beard that makes him look older. More refined. _Handsome._

"I never met him. Saw him a couple of times," Deke admits. He leans back, crossing his hands behind his head as if he's relaxing on a beach on Cantonica. "The Coruscant Academy was big on displays of power. Ceremonies. Knightings. Military fly-bys. Stuff like that. I think the Emperor got him to show up."

Her expression twists in disgust. If there's anyone who has sway over Darth Vader, it's Emperor John Garrett. After a beat, she asks, "What was he like?" Curiosity burns low in Daisy's gut, and she watches Deke's face change as he digests her question.

"Vader? Intimidating," he says finally. "He—he made the room go _cold,_ almost. Like a vacuum."

_The Dark Side._ Deke must be at least semi-Force sensitive; either that or Darth Vader is more powerful than Daisy had expected. Keenly focused on the fact that Deke isn't aware of her past as a Jedi Knight, she asks, "Did he kill anyone?"

Deke grimaces at the memory, which is answer enough. "An officer or two. Why?"

"Just wondering," Daisy lies, feeling uneasy. If Vader is powerful enough for even _Deke Shaw_ to feel the Sith's Force signature, how will she ever be able to take him on?

Thankfully, Deke changes the subject almost immediately after that. She's grateful when he starts yapping about Corellian shipbuilding and expensive repairs and other starship stuff she doesn't quite understand. It's a welcome change from the internal monologue that haunts her daily life, and she listens to his words carefully as the corners of her mouth turn up in a genuine smile.

The Corellian Run takes them all the way to the Core world of Corellia, and Daisy watches in apt fascination as Deke brings them out of hyperspace next to the planet itself. The stars merge back into pinpoints of light in the blackness of space. Daisy's jaw drops when she sees Corellia hanging above them in the strange silence.

She would never call a city planet _beautiful_. Even having grown up on Coruscant, there's something about the crudeness of man-made structures that turns her stomach. But Corellia's landscape, viewed from out here, is _stunning—_ the greens and grays of jungle mixing with the unnatural colors of cities like Coronet City, the planet's capital. It's too bad this is such a short visit.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Deke asks, and it takes Daisy a moment to realize that he's talking to _her._ She shifts in her seat, making brief eye contact with the smuggler. His eyes are shining with amusement, which spikes her irritation again.

"Yeah, yeah," she manages, trying to brush it off. "It's just Corellia. Bring us down into Coronet City, there's—"

"Chill out, D-dog," Deke says, bringing them closer to the planet. It looms above them, growing larger in the viewport. "I know what I'm doing."

"Did you just call me _D-dog?!"_

Before Deke can answer—probably with something equally scathing—Coronet City Imperial Spaceport hails them on comms. Daisy swallows thickly as Deke presses a button to listen to the transmission.

_"Imperial Lambda-class shuttle T-4a,"_ comes the voice of a very unbothered Imperial officer over the airwaves, _"please transmit identification and your planetary destination."_

Deke gives Daisy a nod, and she reaches forward to transmit the Rebellion's stolen codes through to the Empire. She doesn't realize she's holding her breath until the comm pings. A moment later, the officer says, _"Received, thank you. Captain Shaw, please stick to your current approach vector and begin your atmospheric descent."_

And with that, the comms disconnect.

Daisy exhales, keeping her eyes on the planet as it grows larger beneath them. "Nice job," she tells Deke.

"We're not down on the surface yet," he points out. His fists are white-knuckled on the controls.

Daisy shifts in her seat. "Well, planetary defense hasn't shot us out of the sky, so I think we're good."

The shuttle follows its approach vector into Coronet City Imperial Spaceport, and Daisy watches as they pass miles and miles of Imperial shipyards. Her heart sinks at the thousands of TIE fighters, Lambda-class shuttles like the one they're in, AT-AT walkers, and other ships lined up, ready for battle. It's not that she'd ever doubted the Empire's military might, but it's jarring to see it all right here in front of her.

Soon enough, the military shipyards are far in the distance behind them. Deke pulls the shuttle forward and down, towards the spaceport. Hundreds of other ships surround them, and he brings them down into an empty docking bay. The wings come down to land, and the entire shuttle is rocked by the contact with the ground. Daisy resists the urge to sob in relief when the boarding ramp lowers and she's able to stand on solid ground again.

Compared to the bureaucratic systems on other planets, like Naboo, PortSec only takes a few minutes. Hood pulled up over her head, Daisy provides the customs officer with their fake identichips and a few credits for good measure. The officer hums, marks something down on his datapad, and steps aside to let them pass through the hangar doors.

Well. That settles it. _Corruption really is everywhere in the Galaxy these days,_ she thinks as she leads Deke out into Coronet City.

It's not much different than she remembers it from during the Clone Wars, except for the extended Imperial presence. Daisy hopes her cloak and beige-colored clothes are enough to prevent her from being recognized in this crowd. Corellia is home to an eclectic mix of people, to be sure—she can see everyone from gutter rats to high ranking officials and businessmen in this crowd. Humans, Tw'ileks, Bothans, and many other species of alien trudge through the streets. Everyone has their head down, though, and the crowd is easy to blend into. She's done it about a thousand times before. 

“Who’s your contact again?” Daisy asks as she trudges through the crowd with Deke at her side. She hopes her skepticism doesn’t show on her face.

They duck underneath an overhang in order to avoid an Imperial patrol, and Deke grins at her, seeming wholly unconcerned by the urgency of this mission. “That’s for me to know,” he says, tone light, “and for you to find out.”

Daisy briefly considers the prospect of strangling Deke in his sleep tonight. Unfortunately, Mack would probably try and court-martial her if she did so—even though the Rebellion’s faulty and ineffective justice system doesn’t work like the Empire’s does. Plus, Coulson would be disappointed in her.

So she stares at him instead, fully aware of how close they are. The stormtroopers’ footsteps echo through the crowded street—duraplast on stone—and grow even closer. “Tell me your contact’s name,” she says sweetly, “and maybe I _won’t_ tell Mack about the Rebellion tech you stole and redesigned for your own purposes."

Deke goes red, spluttering. Daisy can see the flush rising on his neck and idly wonders how far down it goes. "That was months ago!" he defends, a little too loudly. "I've changed!"

"The contact," she demands, not backing down.

Deke sighs, rolling his eyes. Evidently, he doesn't want to destroy his newfound truce with Mack, either. "Fine. Her name is Tess." He bites out the name with a little more vehemence than necessary.

Daisy raises an eyebrow, looking at him pointedly. _"Her?"_ The implication is clear in her voice.

"Her name is Tess, she's a bounty hunter, and yes, we were _involved!"_ Deke sounds like he's about to burst a blood vessel. "Not that it's any of your business!"

"Okay, okay! Fine!" Daisy raises her hands, as if calming an enraged animal. "Deke, chill. Take some spice or something."

He shoots her a dirty look at that. "Come on," he bites out, and Daisy risks a glance over her shoulder. The stormtroopers are gone. "Let's go." And with that, Deke turns and melts into the crowd. Daisy hurries to follow him, cursing under her breath. _Note to self: don't bring up spice around His Highness._

He leads her on quite a winding route through the crowded streets. Chest heaving, Daisy doesn't dare stop for fear of losing him. Finally, he stops in front of a cantina in the lower city. Daisy almost collides with him immediately, stumbling out of the way just in time.

"We're here," he says, face uncharacteristically dark. Instead of stepping forward to open the door, though, he glances around before putting a hand on Daisy's shoulder. She meets his gaze evenly, a little bit lost, only to see something like worryin his green eyes.

"Daisy," he says. "Promise me you won't... you won't do anything rash."

She stares at him, caught completely off guard. "Rash?" she repeats, incredulous. "Have you seen yourself?"

"Just promise me," he snaps, and she knocks his hand off her shoulder reflexively at the anger in his tone.

"Fine. I promise," she bites back, and steps forward to open the door to the cantina. It slides open in a haze of smoke, and Daisy slips inside without checking to see if Deke is following her.

The cantina Deke had chosen for their rendezvous is exactly like every other cantina on every other planet in every other system in this Sith-forsaken Galaxy. Daisy sidles up to the bar and orders a shot of Twi'lek liquor, ignoring the way that some of the other patrons stare at her. When the bartender slides it over, she knocks it back in one swallow, relishing the fiery taste of the alcohol as it hits the back of her throat.

Deke pushes his way in beside her and asks for a Jogan fruit martini. _Of course he does._ It's the most in-character thing he's ever done. She regards him with thinly-veiled amusement as he sips his fruity little drink. Once they both have a beverage in hand, they turn to sniff out their contact amongst the cantina's tables.

However, Daisy's not quite prepared for the force of nature that is _Tess._ When Deke points out the other woman at a table on the other side of the bar, voice a quiet murmur, she follows his finger and thinks, _oh._

(Despite what many people across the Galaxy may think, the Jedi were _not_ celibate. The Knights had been encouraged by the High Council to do whatever it took in order to sate their bodily functions. Sex was normal, and Daisy had had plenty of it in her twenty-six years as a Jedi. The Jedi did not frown upon homosexuality, either, so Daisy had found it surprisingly easy to explore what being bisexual _meant_ and how it made her feel.

Attachment, however, was strictly forbidden. _Passion, yet serenity._ Not many Knights went behind the Council's back in such a way. Discovery meant expulsion from the Jedi Order, something no one wanted to risk.

Daisy had risked it, though. She'd fallen in love with Ward, her Master, and nearly died for her troubles. She'd even loved others since then, but Ward had always held a special place in her heart.)

And now, as she stares across a darkened cantina at one of the most gorgeous women she's ever seen in her life, she finds herself questioning the Jedi's stance on romance and _attachment_ yet again. Stars above.

Well. No time like the present. Fully aware of Deke's gaze on the back of her neck, she starts across the room towards the table where the woman— _Tess_ —is seated, idly cleaning her nails with a knife. And Force, if that doesn't make Daisy's heart rate pick up.

She slides into the seat across from Tess and offers the bounty hunter a tightly-controlled grin.

Tess looks up. Her eyes scan over Daisy carefully, and then she spots Deke. Recognition blossoms on her features and she manages, "Deke Shaw. I thought I told you never to show your face here again."

Deke shrugs, a little sheepish, as he leans over the table and puts a hand on Daisy's shoulder. She tenses. "Sorry, sweetheart," he tells Tess. "We need your help."

Tess' eyes flick to Deke, then to Daisy, then to his hand on Daisy's shoulder. She raises an eyebrow as she studies Daisy. Her eyes narrow, as if she's sizing the other woman up like a piece of meat, and Daisy feels her face flush uncontrollably. _Force, that's hot._

"We?" Tess asks deliberately. Her controlled tone makes Deke gape, and Daisy decides that she _likes_ this woman—infernal crush or no. "You and your girlfriend?"

Deke splutters. "She's _not_ my—"

"The Rebellion," Daisy fills in for Deke smoothly, voice low. She's not worried about being overheard in here, but it doesn't hurt to be careful. "We were told you have certain— _connections._ We're willing to pay."

Tess digests this, then nods. "Fine," she says, eyes still on Deke's face. "Follow me."

"Woah," Deke says, crossing his arms over his chest. Daisy is both grateful and annoyed at the loss of his comforting touch on her shoulder. "Hold on. We didn't agree to a secondary location, Tess."

"Too many ears in here," she says. "Come on. I know a place."

And with that, she stands up, stretching, and motions for them to follow her as she heads back towards the bar. Daisy and Deke exchange a pointed look, but follow after Tess.

* * *

Tess' apartment—at least, Daisy assumes it's hers—is located a few blocks away from the cantina. Tess slips through the streets of Coronet City, light on her feet, and leaves Daisy and Deke struggling to keep up. Finally, she stops in front of a small, hidden door and swipes her keycard. It slides open, and she motions them inside and up a steep flight of stairs. The door shuts with a _click_ behind them, and Daisy can't help but feel like she's just dug her own grave.

The single room that Daisy steps into at the top of the stairs is dingy, with a few rays of watery sunlight streaming in through a filthy floor-to-ceiling window. Tess' furniture is well-worn and sparse—a couple of threadbare armchairs, an old wooden closet, and a twin mattress on the floor piled with blankets—and Daisy hovers near the door, uncertain.

Tess strides past her and throws herself down on the mattress, reclining back with her arms behind her head. "You guys can take the chairs," she says, still studying them with that piercing gaze of hers.

Daisy manages a thin-lipped smile and a nod, and she lowers herself down into the nearest chair. Deke does the same, twiddling his thumbs around nervously. Perched awkwardly on the edge, Daisy opens her mouth to say something, but Tess beats her to it.

"Sorry for the pomp and circumstance," she drawls, sounding not in the least bit apologetic. "Business is slow these days, and the Imperials like to drop in on all the cantinas in the area randomly, just to make sure we're harboring fugitives." Her eyes burn as Daisy meets her gaze. "Or the Rebellion."

"Look," Daisy snaps, resisting the urge to jump to her feet. _Using a Force-suggestion here would be immoral, right?_ "Deke said you could get us the weapons and supplies we needed. If you're going to be a bitch about it—"

"Daisy!" Deke sounds horrified.

"—then we'll take our business elsewhere." Daisy's mouth curls into a taunting smile as she glowers at Tess. "I'm sure the Empire would love to know the nature of your _errands,_ huh?"

Tess hesitates, conflicting emotions passing over her face. "Fine," she spits, pulling herself to her feet and sticking out her hand, presumably for Daisy to shake. "I've got a lot riding on this. Show me the figures and we can negotiate a price."

Daisy clasps her hand and gives it a firm shake. When she touches Tess' fingers, she almost recoils from the electric shock that seems to travel up her arm.

"Deke, show her the numbers," Daisy orders. Deke gives her a dirty look, but pulls the datapad with the list of needed supplies out of his pocket. He turns the device on and hands it to Tess, who scans it quickly. 

She whistles loudly, her smile incredulous. "That's a hell of a lot of explosives," she tells Deke, brow furrowed. "You tryna build a bomb or something?"

"Something like that." He watches Tess as she scrolls down the list, muttering to herself, and Daisy is hit with a strange sense of _something._ Not jealousy, surely. She's too mature to be jealous over—who? Deke or Tess?

But when Tess hands the datapad back, her fingers brush Deke's and the man gives her a small smirk. Evidently, these two have history together, and Daisy's not sure she wants to be third wheeling.

"I think we started off the wrong foot," she forces herself to say. Her voice sounds a little too loud, even to her own ears, as if she's intruding on an intimate moment. "I'm Daisy."

Tess' eyes brighten a little—Force, Daisy _hopes_ it's not in recognition—but all she says is, "Tess."

"Yeah, I gathered," Daisy says, a little too roughly. "Can you get us everything on the list?"

Tess blinks from the sudden change in subject, but her voice is even when she answers, "Probably. It's gonna cost you, though."

Deke frowns and crosses his arms over his chest. "How much?"

She takes a minute, probably to do mental calculations, before answering. "Five hundred thousand credits."

"What?!" he exclaims. Daisy's inclined to agree _—five hundred thousand credits for some_ explosives? "No. That's way too expensive. I—"

"You want high-yield thermite?" Tess interrupts. "It's gonna cost you. The Empire's been buying it all up. Five hundred thousand or nothing."

"Four hundred," Daisy challenges.

"Four-fifty. That's the lowest I'll go." Tess eyes her with begrudging respect. "I'm trying to run a business here, princess."

And Daisy's cheeks _definitely_ don't flush bright red at that.

"Four hundred fifty thousand." Deke holds out his hand for Tess to shake. "You have a deal."

They shake on it—Daisy shakes Tess' hand after Deke lets it go—and Tess promises to have the materials for them within a few days. "I'd offer for you to stay with me," she says, casting a disdainful eye around at their surroundings, "but there's barely enough room for one person here, let alone three." 

Daisy bites back the sultry remark on her tongue—something about _sharing a bed_ —because Deke's here, and that would be wholly inappropriate. "Thank you," she says instead. "We can stay on our ship."

Later, Tess bids them farewell as they step out onto the street, hanging back in the doorway. Daisy risks a glance over her shoulder before she's swallowed up by the busy crowd to meet Tess' gaze, heat-filled and completely purposeful.

_She knows who I am,_ Daisy realizes in the heat of the moment, adrenaline surging through her. _She knows who Daisy Johnson—who Quake—is._

Unfortunately, Deke grabs her arm and pulls her away before she can do anything, and Daisy is forced to follow him back to the ship in a daze.

* * *

She doesn't get a chance to confront Tess about her suspicions. Deke keeps Daisy busy running across the city for the next two days, meeting up with his old smuggler buddies and several ex-flames. Some of them speak to Daisy in a tone of voice that implies that Deke and Daisy are an item, and Daisy finds that she (rather surprisingly) doesn't mind. She relishes the way that Deke splutters and tries to defend himself.

Besides, even if she wanted answers from Tess, what would she say to Deke? _I'm sorry, but I think your ex-girlfriend, who I may or may not be thirsting over, knows that I used to be a Jedi and I really need to go talk to her? Right now?_

Not in a million years would she ever say something like that to him. Daisy hasn't even told him that she used to be a Jedi in the first place—he probably thinks she's some kind of Coruscanti skyside goody-two-shoes, and she lets him. She can't imagine the way he'd react to the truth.

So without an excuse to visit Tess on her own, Daisy is left to wait. Her apprehension skyrockets quickly.

However, the next time she _finally_ sees Tess is on the day they're meant to pick up the supplies and explosives. Deke holds up his commlink, showing her the message Tess had left earlier.

"Come on," he tells Daisy, returning the device to his pocket. "We gotta get all this stuff back to the ship before dark."

Wisely, Daisy does not voice any of the sarcastic comments that come to mind. "Do you have the money?"

Deke pulls a small bag out of his pocket and displays it to her. "Four hundred fifty thousand credits," he says proudly. It's the Alliance's money, so he has nothing to be proud about, but Daisy lets it be. She's too exhausted to pick a fight with him right now. 

"A waste of money, if you ask me," Daisy huffs, but she grabs her cloak and pulls her boots on.

This time, she's the one that leads Deke to their destination—a small warehouse on the second floor of another building deep into the financial district. Daisy takes several twists and turns to make sure no one's following them through the streets. It takes about five minutes, but when she's completely sure they're alone, she grabs Deke's arm and hauls his ass into the building, shutting the door behind them with a _bang_ that reverberates throughout the foyer. Two flights of stairs later, they find themselves on the top level standing in front of a metal door.

Deke motions to the door as Daisy nods. He steps in front of her and eases it open with a fingertip, revealing a vast room with a ceiling that towers high above them. Daisy follows Deke through into it, fully expecting to see piles of ammunition and explosives.

She's met with a completely empty room. Frowning, she strides into the middle of it, twisting and turning to survey their surroundings. "It's empty, don't you think?"

Deke's voice is carefully controlled, but Daisy can hear the anxiety in it. "Don't worry," he says. "I'm sure Tess is on her way."

The door flies shut with a _bang_ behind them, and Daisy whirls around to see Tess standing in the shadows of the doorway. Her conscience is eased slightly when Tess gives her a small, weary smile and turns to Deke.

"You made it," she says, sounding faintly surprised. She puts her hand out expectantly, palm facing up. "The money, Deke."

Daisy stiffens. Something about this isn't right. "Show us the goods first," she says, voice cold. Deke shoots her a scathing look but before he can say anything, Tess holds up a hand and cuts him off.

"You're smart, Daisy," she says, almost regretfully. The name sounds odd in Tess' mouth. "Too smart. Not many people would have picked up on that."

Daisy shrugs. "I learn fast," she says. She darts forward, tackling Deke out of the way as Tess pulls a blaster from within her cloak and shoots a stun bolt in their direction. It passes over their heads, harmless, as Deke rolls away from her.

Daisy gets back to her feet in time to block Tess' next punch. She uses the other woman's momentum to force her backwards, striking and parrying in hand-to-hand combat.

"What the hell, Tess?!" Deke rages. He's on his feet again, standing several feet behind Daisy, with a hand to his jaw where he'd hit the floor. It looks like it will bruise. "We had a deal!"

"I don't deal with _Jedi,"_ Tess spits, and Daisy feels the last of her patience drain away as she regards the other woman. She's been itching for a fight over the last week—Tess deserves to _hurt._ "The Imperials are on their way

Daisy doesn't even worry about the way Deke inhales sharply at the word _Jedi,_ or about the self-satisfied smirk on Tess' face. She closes her eyes and draws on the Force, feeling it flow around her in a familiar way. In it, she can sense Tess' intent: _capture, not kill._ It's not reassuring. 

She breathes in deep, pulling on strands of the Living Force, and says, _"You don't want to sell us out to the Empire,"_ putting every ounce of Force-suggestion that she has behind it. _"You want to complete our transaction."_

Tess blinks, her eyes glazing over slightly. "I—I don't want to sell you out to the Empire," she says, sounding confused as her own will is overridden by Daisy's suggestion. "I want to complete our transaction."

Daisy sighs in relief. But she stiffens again when Deke squeaks, sounding terrified. When Daisy turns to look at him, surprised, he's staring at her in horror.

_Force._ How could she be so stupid to perform a mind-trick in front of Deke?

"You're a Jedi," he says, pointing at her. His finger shakes. "You're a _Jedi."_

Daisy aches to embrace him, but he'd probably punch her in the jaw if she tried right now. She raises her hands placatingly instead. "Deke, it's not what you think."

"She's much more than just _a Jedi,_ Deke," comes Tess' voice. Daisy whirls around again to find that her suggestion has worn off. Tess glares at her, eyes piercing and blaster cocked. "You're in the company of _Quake._ The Hero With No Fear. Daisy Johnson."

Recognition floods Deke's features as he backs away from Daisy. He looks so unsure of her that her gut twists.

"Did you really think a mind trick would work on me?" Tess sounds scathing. Behind her, the sound of footsteps echoes throughout the stairwell. _Stormtroopers._

Daisy does a quick mental calculation and then turns to Deke, ignoring Tess. "Deke," she says, as earnestly as she can, "I'm not here to hurt you. _Please._ I just wanted to get these supplies."

Deke just shakes his head, and she clenches her right hand into a fist. "I'm not _going_ to hurt you," she tries. "Look at all the opportunities I've had. Deke, please. I'm not evil! You have to trust me!"

The door slides open as she finishes, revealing an entire patrol of Imperial stormtroopers. Daisy holds Deke's gaze, pleading with her eyes.

"Please," she whispers. Finally, he nods, face twisting with resolve, and time seems to speed up again.

"That's the Jedi!" Tess shouts, pointing at Daisy, as the stormtroopers rush into the room. Daisy backs up, grabbing Deke's hand and pulling him towards the back of the room. Tess gives her an apologetic smile even as Daisy scans their surroundings for a way out. “I'm sorry, Daisy," she says, and Daisy _hates_ that she sounds genuine. "The Empire has put quite a high price on your head, Jedi or no, and things are tight around here. I need the money. I hope you understand.”

Daisy holds Tess' gaze, feeling anger and understanding warring within her. Not trusting herself to speak, she nods curtly.

Deke has no such qualms. His hands clench into fists at his sides as he glowers at Tess. He looks angrier than Daisy’s ever seen him. “You piece of—“

“Deke, come on!” Daisy yells. She grabs his arm and pulls him toward the window closest to her. She uses the Force to smash the transparisteel pane into thousands of small shards and pushes him through it, yelling, “Jump! I’ll be right behind you!”

Deke wobbles a little on the edge, still staring at the broken glass in shock. He glances back at her, eyes wide, then nods as if steeling himself.

Before he can jump, though, strong armored hands come from behind and restrain him. Deke kicks out, but the stormtroopers pull him back into the room and throw him to the ground roughly.

"Go, Daisy!" he yells before one of them kicks him in the gut and he goes down hard.

"Not without you!" She hops down from the ledge and pushes two stormtroopers out of the way with the Force. They go flying back against the wall; their helmets make a sickening _crack_ against the durasteel. Daisy takes down another soldier with a roundhouse kick to the jaw that leaves her foot aching. She curses, stumbling back a little bit.

Before Daisy can reach Deke, however, she feels electricity course through her body—more painful than anything she's ever experienced—and she screams out. Her limbs suddenly stop working and she crumples to the floor, writhing in agony. Though her vision swims, she can just about make out the shape of Tess standing above her with blaster in hand.

"I'm sorry about this, Daisy," she says. Before Daisy can even open her mouth to spit something scathing back up at her, Tess brings the blaster around in a blow that knocks Daisy out cold.

* * *

She wakes with a gasp, starting forward as everything comes back to her: the mission, the supplies, _Deke,_ Tess, the stormtroopers. Breathing raggedly, Daisy looks around in wild shock.

Her surroundings: a grim Imperial cell, fashioned completely out of durasteel, with a bunk-like ledge that she's currently sitting on and a small window. Deke sits next to her, staring out of the window at the street below. When she takes in a deep breath, Deke jolts out of his thoughts and turns to her, concern written in every line of his expression.

"Daisy! Are you okay?"

"I—Yeah," she manages. She has a raging headache and her throat feels a lot drier than it should do, but she'll live. "What happened?"

Deke has the decency to look sheepish. "Tess knocked you out and let the Imperials take us captive. I tried to escape, but the stormtroopers just put binders on me and stuck us in this cell." He goes to motion to their surroundings, but his hand is jerked back into Daisy's.

She looks down in surprise. For the first time, she realizes that the stormtroopers have locked their binders together so that whenever Daisy moves, she pulls Deke along with her (and vice versa). _Fuck._ The Force-inhibiting cuffs on her hands cut off any connection to the Force—it feels like there's an empty void within her. This is bad.

Deke follows her gaze. “Yeah," he says awkwardly. "This is... a situation.”

Daisy glares at him and pointedly looks down at their hands again. "I don't like being handcuffed to you _either,"_ she says vehemently. She just wants to curl into a ball somewhere and cry. "It's your fault we're in this mess in the first place, _genius!"_

Deke's brow furrows. His eyes burn into the side of her neck when she turns her gaze away. _"My fault?!"_ he repeats. "My fault?! You're the one who they tried to _capture_ because of some stupid bounty on your head!"

"What did you expect?" she shoots back, his words only fueling her irritation. "I thought your contact was _trustworthy."_

"So did I." Deke sounds bitter. "Do you really think this is _my_ fault? You're the one who never told me that you used to be a _Jedi!_ Were you going to string me along the entire time?!"

"Deke, that's not fair—"

"I felt like an idiot in there!" he snaps, cutting her off. From his sleeve, he slips a sharp piece of metal—a screwdriver, she realizes—and starts fiddling with his binders. His fingers work deftly, and soon he has one hand free. "You're a _Jedi,_ Daisy, and you—"

"I _was_ a Jedi!" she exclaims. "Newsflash, Deke: the Empire _killed_ the Jedi. Six years ago. Forgive me if I lied to you in order to escape a goddamn genocide!"

"I trusted you!" he shoots back. His voice is acidic. Daisy bets the stormtroopers outside their cell are enjoying the show. "This isn't about Order 66, Daisy. This is about you _lying_ to my face!"

"So that's what you're mad about?!" she thunders, glaring at him. "You're angry I'm not falling over at your feet because you showed an _interest_ in me?!" She pitches her voice high and breathes, fluttering her lashes, _"Oh,_ Deke, _I am so in love with you! You're such a hero! Here, let me kiss you—"_

_"Shut up."_ Deke's voice is angrier than she's ever heard it, and it takes Daisy's breath away. He points a finger at her chest, almost accusatory. The tip of it brushes Daisy’s tunic when she inhales sharply. “That's not it. I’m done with the bullshit, Daisy. You keep pushing me away every time we start to get close.”

She bristles. “I don’t—“

“See! You‘re doing it again.” Deke studies her with a strange shrewdness that Daisy isn’t sure she likes the look of. He’s breathing hard, too, chest rising and falling quickly, “You brush me off. Constantly. Why won’t you just—“

“Stars, I don’t know, Deke,” she snaps, forgetting herself for a moment. His question is legitimate: there are far too many reasons why Daisy doesn’t let anyone into her heart. Why she chooses to push Deke away instead of welcoming his romantic advances. Most of them are names: _Miles. Grant Ward, Force rest his soul. Lincoln Campbell._ All painful memories. All of them dead. 

Miles: a trigger-happy ISB recruit she’d met several years into the Empire’s reign, during an undercover assignment within their ranks. He’d risked his life to help her—and unknowingly help the Rebellion at the same time. Eventually, he’d been rooted out as a traitor by one of Vader’s Inquisitors and killed for his trouble.

Grant: her former Jedi Master, her best friend, her lover. The man who turned to the Dark Side and murdered everyone she loved. The man who’d died at her hand—or so she believes, if these rumors of a new Sith Lord prove to be unfounded.

Lincoln: a fellow Force-sensitive, though untrained, who she’d crossed paths with a few times during the Clone Wars. Officially, he was listed as feral within the Jedi Order’s records—a rather unkind and impolite term for an untrained Force-user—but he could control his powers well. He’d mastered Force lightning quickly, which had always left Daisy in awe. She met up with him after Order 66 and they’d survived together on their own for quite a few years before Lincoln had taken a blaster bolt in the chest for her. He'd died in her arms.

And ever since that day, she'd resolved never to love again. The recollection of all the men she’s ever loved is painful. Long story short, anyone who’s ever loved Daisy Johnson has died a painful death in front of her. She can’t let history repeat itself. Not with sweet, handsome, _charming_ Deke Shaw.

She’s not going to tell Deke that, though. Instead, she levels him with a Look and says, “It’s none of your goddamn business,” in the coldest voice she can, trying to convince him to drop the subject.

Deke flinches away at her tone, even though there’s nowhere else to go in the confined space. She tries not to feel guilty at the hurt in his eyes. A strange silence falls between them, cold and uncomfortable, as Deke works to free his other hand from the binders. When they finally unlock with a _click,_ he pulls his wrist free and rubs at the raw skin.

"You know," he says into the silence, "you don't have to do all of this alone." He brings his right hand up to cup Daisy's cheek, and she leans into the touch without thinking about it. "We're your friends."

She almost laughs, dry and humorless. "This is war," she reminds him. "We're probably going to end up dying before we hit the age of forty."

"Not with your luck."

Daisy bristles. "It's not luck," she says, voice a little harsher than she'd meant it to be. "It's skill. Luck has gotten me _nowhere_ in the last twenty years. Look at what happened to the Jedi." She stares down at her bound hands as Deke takes his hand from her face and starts to work at the cuffs, slipping his tool between the metal crevices. "Everyone who ever loved me has ended up _dead,_ " she tells him, because she thinks he should know.

Deke inhales sharply. To his credit, he doesn't say anything—he just nods. Soon, her own right hand pops free of the cuffs.

"You can't stop people from caring about you," he says finally, refusing to meet her eyes. "I know it—it probably seems easier to push people away, right now, rather than let them be concerned for you." He sighs, shaking his head. "I'm here for you, Daisy, whether you like it or not. But I'll wait as long as you need me to. I’m here to stay. I won’t fold at the first sign of trouble. But if you need more than just my word... I’m sticking around.”

She's taken aback by the sentiment in his voice. “Deke, it’s not that I’m afraid you won’t stick around,” she says, a little choked-up, even though part of her had been afraid of _just that._ “I couldn’t live with myself if you got hurt—hell, _what if you died?!”_

“I’m pretty fast,” he tells her, lips quirking up into a familiar grin. “I’m not gonna be dying anytime soon. Don’t worry about it.” With a final twist of his screwdriver, he pops open the binders and lets them drop to the floor with a _clang._ As soon as they’re gone, Daisy can feel the Force flow back to her, midichlorians soothed by its presence. She’s never liked Force-inhibiting cuffs—they’d sucked enough during the Clone Wars when the Seps had used them. Apparently, the Empire had inherited that particular nasty habit from its predecessor.

With her hands free and her connection to the Force returned, Daisy feels an unnatural sense of calm fall over her. Force, she’s about to do a momentally reckless and stupid thing. “Thank you, Deke,” she murmurs, and she leans in and kisses him.

He makes a small sound of surprise in the back of his throat, but he kisses her back with the same amount of desperate hunger she feels in her gut. Daisy moves forward against him, almost sliding into his lip, to get a better angle. His lips taste like Jogan fruit and something bitter—lemon, maybe?—and Daisy regrets not doing this earlier.

She pulls away, staring into Deke’s eyes as she does so. “Let’s take it slow,” she tells him as he stares at her, completely entranced. Who knew kissing would be the most effective way to shut Deke Shaw up? 

He shakes himself, eyes still glazed over. “Yeah. Okay, slow. First, we’ve got to get out of here.”

She glances over at the cell door. “I can quake the door with the Force,” she offers. “Knock out the guards outside. You can steal a blaster and we can hopefully escape pretty unnoticed.”

Deke shudders. “I keep forgetting you can do that,” he says, obviously referring to her Force abilities. “Pretty handy in a situation like this, huh?”

She stares at him. “Just get away from the door,” Daisy says finally. She stumbles to her feet, still wobbly—she might have a concussion from Tess’ blow to the head. 

She waves her hand, and the cell door slides open with only a small amount of Force needed. Daisy relishes the looks on the guards’ faces when they turn around and see their prisoners uncuffed. Before they can alert their fellow stormtroopers, however, she knocks them out with a wave of her hand. They go crashing back against the durasteel wall of the hallway and she motions to the two unconscious bodies. “Get dressed.”

Deke groans, but he does so. The stormtrooper armor is a little big on him—the helmet knocks around on his head, making him look more than a little stupid—but he’ll blend in with the other Imperials, which is all that matters.

Daisy takes the second guard’s armor, which fits her a little better. With Deke’s help, she manages to push the two unconscious men into the cell and then slide the door closed by shooting the control panel with one of their blasters.

Deke shoots her a look, and she shrugs. “Much more efficient than using the Force,” Daisy defends, and he rolls his eyes.

“Come on,” he says, and they start to stride briskly down the hallways. “Let’s get out of here before your buddy Darth Vader figures out we’ve gone missing.”

Daisy stops in her tracks, almost making Deke stumble over her booted feet. “Darth Vader?” she asks, and the hushed urgency in her voice must stop Deke from voicing his obvious complaints. “He’s here?”

She can hear the frown in Deke’s voice as he said, “I heard the troopers talking. He’s on his way from Mustafar to identify you and he’ll be here in a few hours. Which is why we have to get out of here.” He accentuates this statement by grabbing Daisy’s arm and pulling down the hallway again.

“Hey! Ow!” She tears her arm from Deke’s grip. “If Vader’s coming, I have to stay, dumbass. This could be our only chance—“

“He’ll kill you,” Deke say, disbelief clouding his voice. “Daisy, you can’t. It’s too dangerous.”

“That’s a risk I have to take.”

“Listen to yourself!” Deke sounds borderline hysterical now. “Your death is not worth any information about Vader. You’re not staying, and that’s final.”

Daisy crosses her arms over her chest and plants her feet. “Make me.”

Deke groans. If he wasn’t wearing a helmet, Daisy is sure he’d be running his hands through his hair. “Fucking—okay, listen. Daisy. I promise that as soon as we’re out of this, I’ll take you on all the Darth Vader obsessive scavenger hunts you want. Just, please. We have to go now.”

Daisy hesitates—torn being the temptation of maybe seeing Ward again, getting an answer to all her questions, and staying safe with Deke. “Fine,” she bites out after a moment. “Fine. Come on.”

And with that, she turns on her heel and strides back down the corridor, toward what she hopes is the exit.

Thankfully, Deke and Daisy make their escape without anyone noticing. It almost feels too good to be true, Daisy thinks—shouldn’t someone have stopped them by now? Or shot at them?

However, just before they step through the door onto the street, out of the Imperial prison complex, an alarm starts wailing and a voice comes over the intercom. _“Warning: prisoners have escaped. Base is on total lockdown.”_

Deke grabs her shoulder and roughly pulls her through the door moments before the heavy metal shutters drop down on the other side. “I think,” he says, breathing hard, “that that’s our cue to leave.”

Once they shed all the stormtrooper armor in an alley behind the prison, Daisy and Deke sprint back through the crowded streets towards the spaceport. They’re not stupid enough to think that the Empire hasn’t found their ship, and they might need to steal one to escape.

Deke stops Daisy with an arm over her chest before she runs into the docking bay. “Look,” he mutters, motioning to their stolen shuttle. “More stormtroopers.”

Daisy squints to see several white figures entering and exiting the ship via the boarding ramp. “I hope you didn’t like those clothes,” she says conversationally. “Do you still have that money on you?”

He pats the breast pocket of his leather jacket. “It’s still here,” he says proudly.

“Good. Don’t lose it.” 

He rolls his eyes at her tone. Sighing, Deke points out a ship on the other side of the hangar, this one less-guarded. “Come on. Let’s steal that one.”

Daisy nods, and the two of them creep over towards the ship: a YT Corellian Freighter with several obvious modifications. The outside of the ship is ugly, Daisy thinks bluntly. She hopes it flies better than it looks. 

They’re able to make it up the boarding ramp—which has been conveniently left down—with no Imperials spotting them. As soon as Deke makes it to the pilot’s seat, he immediately sits and begins to start up the ship’s engines. It hums to life quickly.

As Daisy watches through the viewport, several of the stormtroopers guarding their old Lambda shuttle start at the noise. One of them points to the freighter, as if to say _look! They’re getting away!_

“Uh, Deke?” she cautions, watching as they raise their blasters. “You might want to get us off the ground. _Now.”_

Deke sighs, but he plucks at a few more controls and the ship begins to hover. “I’m getting used to this thing,” he tells Daisy. “Hold on. This might get rough.” 

Without waiting for her to acknowledge him, Deke takes ahold of the throttle and brings them up and out of spaceport airspace as the stormtroopers below begin to open fire on their ship. Daisy winces, but she watches Coronet City grow smaller and smaller beneath them as the freighter races away from Corellian airspace. As soon as the ship is out of the range of the planetary gravity, Deke thrusts the navicomputer into Daisy’s hands.

“Calculate our jump. Anywhere but here. Please.” 

“Yavin Four it is, then,” Daisy says. She programs the coordinates into the ship and gives Deke a nod when it’s ready. “Hit the hyperdrive, Deke.”

She only relaxes fully when the stars streak by into familiar thin lines and the ship lurches forward, traveling through the glowing blue column at hyperspeed.

* * *

Mack doesn't take the news well. When their stolen freighter—which Deke had affectionately termed the _Zephyr_ whilst in hyperspace— arrives back on Yavin Four, Daisy lays a hand on Deke's arm and shoots him a look that says _I'll handle this._ Deke doesn't have to be told twice—he scampers off somewhere, leaving Daisy to find her superior officer somewhere in the wild expanse of jungle and temple. _Damn._

It takes her twenty minutes to scour the base. When she does find him, she's surprised to see him sitting on the edges of the airstrip, his back to the ancient temple as he gazes out into the jungle. He hears her approach and tenses, asking, "Johnson? What—"

"Deke's contact fell through," she says quickly, feeling shame rise within her. "I'm sorry, sir. She sold us out to the Imperials." _Sold_ me _out,_ she thinks savagely.

Mack turns to face her, and the disappointment is plain on his face even though he tries to hide it. She's known him too long for it to work. "So, no..."

"No high-yield thermite," Daisy finishes. "Or practically anything else. Unless you can find another seller." She bounces forward on the balls of her feet, cautious.

Mack sighs and raises a hand to his temple. "Fuck," he curses, and the unfamiliar word in his mouth practically breaks Daisy's heart. "I was hoping your transaction went through. I'll need to let Simmons know, and we need to find someone else to supply our explosives." He raises his gaze, looking past Daisy to the hangar bay forlornly. "Yo-Yo's back from Alderaan, by the way."

"And I'm guessing that has nothing to do with why you're so upset," Daisy says carefully. Mack shoots her a dirty look. _Gotcha._ "Look, Mack. Sir. I'm so sorry. I tried, but—"

He sighs, waves a hand in dismissal. "It's not your fault, Daisy. You didn't know she would recognize you. Simmons and I will call a council meeting later to discuss this. Go and get some rest; I'm sure you're sick of Deke Shaw by now."

"Actually," Daisy says truthfully, before she can stop herself, "he and I—we kind of bonded. On Corellia."

Mack throws his head back and groans. "Please don't tell me you're fucking him."

Daisy squeaks, because she hadn't expected _that,_ and she backtracks as fast as she can. "No, no! _No._ Force, Mack, why would you think that?!"

"My bad," he mutters, but he doesn't look convinced. "If you see Yo-Yo on your way in, can you tell her I'll be there in just a moment? I—I need a minute to think."

"Of course." Daisy starts to walk away, but hesitates. "And... Mack?"

"Yeah?"

"If, at some point, it turned out that I _was_ fucking Deke... what would you—"

"Get out of my sight, Agent Johnson," Mack demands, but there's humor in his voice. "And for Christ's sake, _language."_

Grinning, Daisy obeys with a "Yes, sir." _At least it hadn't all been for nothing._

When she reaches the hangar, Yo-Yo's leaning against the doorframe, grinning. "Heard you were back," she says.

"Good to be back." Daisy reaches up and embraces the other woman, relishing the feeling of Yo-Yo against her. "How was Alderaan?" she asks when she steps back.

Yo-Yo makes a face. "Boring. I wish I'd been sent to Corellia with you guys, it sounded like you had much more fun."

Daisy rolls her eyes. "You call being shot at fun?" she says conversationally. "By the way, Mack says he'll be back in a moment. He's in one of his moods again."

Yo-Yo _tsks_ her tongue and sighs. "Thanks. Deke's waiting for you inside, by the way. I told him not to wait out here and he freaked out and fled."

Daisy frowns. That's— _unexpected,_ to say the least. "Thanks," she says, for lack of anything else, and goes to find Deke.

True to Yo-Yo's word, he's standing just inside the base, a few doorways past the hangar. Some of the other Rebel pilots passing by shoot him strange looks, but he ignores them. When he spots Daisy walking towards him, his face lights up.

"How's Mack?" he asks as she falls into step beside him. She has no idea where they're going, but she gets the sense that it doesn't matter.

"Upset," she says, truthfully. "A lot was riding on this deal. He'll recover, but... it's a blow to the Rebellion."

Deke nods, looking troubled. "Daisy—I'm sorry," he says, after a moment's hesitation. "I'm the reason you trusted Tess in the first place. You were right. If it's anyone's fault, it's mine."

"It's not," Daisy defends automatically. "Deke, I chose to trust her, too. Sometimes... sometimes people you love let you down. Betray you."

"Yeah," Deke says, and Daisy gets the feeling he's not actually talking about Tess anymore. "Yeah. You're right. Just—don't blame yourself, okay? We'll find those explosives somewhere."

Daisy hums, not trusting herself to speak.

"Look, I have to go and talk to Simmons," he says, turning to face her. His eyes are so very green, she notices. "Alliance stuff. You know. But I was going to ask—would you like to go out for drinks, sometime?" Deke's smile turns dangerous, and Daisy feels her heart rate pick up. "I know a good place on Taris."

"Sure. Drinks," she agrees, almost faintly, and she watches him go with fondness and a familiar heat twisting in her chest.

* * *

Somewhere else in the Galaxy, millions of lightyears away from Yavin Four, Darth Vader stands at the viewport of the Executor and seethes in his anger.

He'd had Daisy Johnson in his grasp earlier, but she’d escaped him today. Yet again. Ever since that fateful duel on Mustafar—when Daisy had driven him through with his own lightsaber—Vader has scoured the Galaxy looking for her. Today had been the closest he’d come to seeing her face in years, and he’d failed—all because of some imbeciles who didn’t take their jobs seriously enough.

His fists tighten at his sides at the thought of the military officers he'd choked when he'd heard of Johnson's escape. True, it’s bad-mannered to speak ill of the dead, but he needs to find her. He _must_ find her. Because as long as Daisy Johnson is still alive, Grant Ward will never fully become Darth Vader. She's the last connection to his past life that still remains—the last person in this forsaken Galaxy who would recognize him as _Grant Ward,_ Jedi Master and war hero.

Even so, he doesn’t know what he’ll do when he captures her—kill her? Torture her? Keep her as a pleasure slave? The thought warms him, even as his anger burns hot and low in his gut. His fingers automatically brush the scar on his torso, and it twinges in pain at the memory.

_Garrett had found him there, lying dead on Mustafar’s shores, and he’d brought him back to Coruscant in order to bring Ward back to life. Using an Ancient Sith technique in which Garrett channeled the life out of one man—in Ward’s case, a prisoner by the name of Antoine Triplett—straight into Ward’s dead body. Vader had awoken to Trip’s screams, Garrett’s maniacal laughter, and incredible amounts of pain_.

But here he is. He’s still alive, still fighting, and part of one of the largest Galactic Empires in the history of the known Galaxy. He will bring peace, freedom, justice, and security to this Empire, no matter how many people join this useless Rebellion.

He glowers at one of the holoscreens nearby, displaying wanted posters and bounties. The photo shows a young man, maybe in his late twenties, sitting forward with his elbows on his knees. He has a scruff of beard around his mouth and he’s grinning at the camera. In block letters next to the photograph, the poster announces **DEKE SHAW.** Vader’s hands clench in fists again at his sides at the sight of Daisy’s little smuggler boyfriend.

She could do so much better. She could have had _him_ , for Force’s sake, but she’d given it up when she’d tried to kill Vader. He'd offered her a place at his side to rule the Galaxy with him, and she'd refused. Now he only wants revenge, and Deke Shaw seems like the perfect vehicle through which to to enact it.

Vader will find Daisy Johnson. He will find her, and he will _make_ her love him, or he will set fire to the the Galaxy in the process.

**Author's Note:**

> [This](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/marvelmovies/images/0/08/FA75FB70-6A6E-4271-8486-FEBA65468ED7.jpeg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/340?cb=20181028163327) is how I imagine smugger!Deke, for the record. 
> 
> Oh. My. God. Three days—and nights!—worth of sweat and tears went into this fic. I took breaks only to eat, sleep, and watch _Hamilton_ on Disney Plus. (I may or may not have watched it four times in the past three days). I have a permanent headache from staring at my screen. But hey, this idea called my name and wouldn't shut up until I hit _post._ I hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> I'm planning to write more short fics set in this universe! Let me know what you'd like to see!


End file.
